is it bad to use wheel spacers?

was hoping for some opinions of a few people more knowledgable than I am on the subject

I'm looking into buying a new set of rims and I was hoping to get the tires outside the wheel wells about an inch by doing so.. unfortunately fuel discontinued my first choice so I had to move down the list.. the second set Ive chosen come in a +1 or +20 offset, I was thinking I'd need roughly -25 to get the tires where I want them but its possible I just don't understand wheel offset as well as I think I do.

I was wondering if buying the +1 offset wheels and using 1" wheel spacers is a reasonable solution or are they not really recommended? I feel like they might put extra stress on the front end components?

 

Hmmn. I can’t help you with your offset calculations because I suck at it.

But I can tell you, based on reading just about every thread on here over two years, that, while it’s “ideal” not to use spacers*, many of us do. I and others I know have done lots of cool antics (think air + landings) with spacers, with no problems. 1” spacers won’t wreck anything. But stick to top-quality spacers; I run BORA.

 

This pic is from another member's truck. 275/70/18 Nitto Ridge Grapplers on Ray10 wheels that have a +25mm offset. Your +20mm wheels would be approximately 1/4" further out, a +1mm would be just shy of an inch further out than the pic, and if you did -25mm offset you would be almost 2 inches further out.

 

Love my spacers. Around 30,000 trouble free miles so far with heavy wheeling.

 

The concern about putting extra stress on the front end components is somewhat true, but irrelevant. There is a little more stress because the wheel is further out so the moment force is bigger, but it is exactly the same as using a wheel with a similar offset. So, compared to stock, there is a slight increase in stress, but stock wheel with spacer and aftermarket wheel with more offset (negative offset actually) is exactly the same stress. So long story short, it does not help to buy wider wheels because you are concerned about wheel spacer stress. Lots of people use spacers just like lots have wheels with different offsets. I hardly ever hear any bad news regarding wheel bearings or other components breaking because of that.

 

Perfectly correct. With rims you don’t have to worry about the connection between the rim spacer and hub but as long as they are torqued per manufacturer it’s basically the same deal. No difference between spacers and offset wheels.

 

With spacers, i would just make sure the wheels and the spacers are both hub centric

 

Either BORA or Spydertrax, and make sure to use thread locker on the lug nuts holding on the spacer, but not your rims obviously!

 

I have +1 offset and my tires are just a tad outside of my Bushwacker flares.

 

Just for reference, here is -11

 

So some spacer companies will void the warranty if you use loctite. I would say just follow manufacturer specifications regardless of which spacers you get. Some say use and some say don’t. More importantly is make sure you torque and Re torque after manufacturer recommended intervals. The safety of wheel spacers depends on the install assuming your buying a quality product with quality materials. Also make sure you clean the surface of the hub to get a smooth mating surface. If it’s not smooth it can cause problems with alignment and a bad ride as well as damage to other components like brakes rotors, wheel studs, etc...

 

I've run 1.25" spacers for 125,000 miles with no issues. No loctite, no bearing failures. Towed a 7500# camper regularly. These are hubcentric spacers. Not Bora. If you're gonna run a small spacer (1.5" or less) make sure that the factory lugs don't stick out past the spacer, or make sure the wheel has relief between the bolt holes for the lugs to clear. Otherwise you'll have to trim the factory studs down, not recommended.

 

A hub centric wheel bolted to a hub centric wheel spacer has the same leverage on it as a hub centric wheel with 1.25inches less backspacing.

the only difference is the addition seam, but if properly torqued, then rechecked that should not be an issue. It may be slightly weaker, but i doubt our loads can break it

 

The same people who complain about spacers being unsafe are the same ppl who roll through stop signs and break the speed limit.

 

I really like this explanation. Thanks to all who replied, I didn't realize that a +1 offset would get the wheels outside of the fenders. I guess I just assume that the +1 would be 1mm less offset than the stock aluminum rims I'm running now, so I figured to get an inch outside of the fenders I would need to have -25. So I guess the assumption I made in reality was that the stock alloy rims for the 2nd gen tundras were to be considered a 0 offset .. but obviously not... does this mean that the offset on factory rims is somewhere around +25?

 

I have ran spacers on three vehicles I have owned and currently run them with a +50 offset TSS wheels on my 2017 Platinum. There is no difference between this and a aftermarket wheel offset. I have never seen a loss in life in regards to my hub bearings or joints or anything for that matter. I have always ran Spydertrax because they are very reliable but there is one con to them..... they are anodize blue I hate blue.

With the math of these spacers and the +50 wheels I am sitting at +18 Offset

 

Factory wheels are not +25. Closer to +50 or 60. The wheels I posted above (just poking out of the fenders) are +25.

 

thanks again, i got a straight answer from google this time and it said +60 on the 18" alloys. Must have worded it the wrong way last time. I apologize for my ignorance hahaha

 

No worries. I'm a noob on all this. My Tundra is the first vehicle I've ever wanted to change the wheels on, so we all start somewhere. Never apologize for asking a question you don't know the answer to.

 

Factory TRD 18" are +60 offset

 

Once you apply the "recommended" torque on spacers to the hub....they become "one". There is a misconception about this that isn't true. All about the direct force applied to the hub. The torgued force of the spacer to the hub doesn't weaken anything. There are mechanical engineers here that explain it better than me. We calibrate torque multipliers at our lab. In order to do that we have to attach our reference torgue standard to the Unit Under Test and depending on the torque load we apply recommended torque per our calibration procedure. "Equal force". Under torquing and over torquing spacers is when problems seem to occur.

 

I would never do it again. I used wheel spacers once and my wheel came off...

 

please be more specific. What came off? Broken studs? Oe wheels? Nuts came loose?

 

It broke all the studs off one hub and the wheel basically came off while I was on a road trip in the middle of nowhere in a desert...

 

Correct, Spydertrax actually includes loctite, but making sure they are still TQ'd properly after 500 miles and then making sure every rotate is key. You're doubling your points of failure and potentially putting things out of whack if you don't get it flush.

 

I ran BORA 1.25" on my Tundra with the stock TRD OR wheels for a while—no issues at all. They were my first set of spacers, so I was hesitant as well, given what you can find when you google about them. But even loaded with camping gear/fire road driving for a whole summer they never seemed to cause any issues.

 

Maybe its just me, but i would rather buy a rim/tire combo with the proper offset to get the look i want, rather than worry about something coming loose or breaking off. But then again, i might be old school because i like the biggest tires i can get that don't stick out past the fender.

 

The big thing with a Toyota truck is they LOVE hubcentric wheels. I always tell people toyota vehicles are very sensitive to things when it comes to shakes and vibrations alot of times its the wheels or tires being the causer. Having a lug centric wheel sends you in that direction of having those issues. Dont get me wrong I ran Methods for years and loved them. But alot aftermarket wheel companies claim their wheels are hubcentric but they are not the bore is just very close. I love having a aftermarket offset with a hubcentric fit wheel plus I love the TSS wheels. That is where the spacers are a win win for me. I had my Methods come loose on me many of times and found myself re torquing them. I would say on any truck you have to worry about anything coming loose but I do get its one less thing to worry about.

 

That sounds like the spacer was not torqued down came loose and sheared all the lugs.

 

Check these 2 sites out. they helped me out tremendously. i eventually went with a +25 offset. they stick out roughly 1 1/2"...you can check out my pics in my profile